Today on the TeachPianoToday podcast we’re chatting with Dr. Christopher Foley; an expert in the area of collaborative piano.
For those of you who just thought “What is a collaborative piano?” you’re in for a treat. The potential for your piano students to find a career using their piano skills is richer and more varied now than ever before. We no longer need to be limiting our students to choosing between “The Big 2”: teaching or solo performing.
The World of Collaborative Piano
Dr. Foley shares his vast knowledge of the piano world at the Collaborative Piano Blog. Click below to listen in as Dr. Foley and I discuss:
- what is a collaborative pianist?
- the skills your piano students will need as future collaborative pianists
- the unique career opportunities that exist for your piano students
- where we should be directing students who are interested in pursuing a career in collaborative piano
- and much, much more!
I was so excited to speak with Dr. Foley on this subject; as teachers we always hope that our students will continue on in piano… but, to me, it’s always felt a bit limited in terms of what we can suggest to them as career options. No longer! Check out Dr. Foley’s amazing list of opportunities for those trained in collaborative piano.
The Possibilities Are Endless
The most exciting thing about the world of collaborative piano is that it is continually changing, expanding and growing. 15 years from now, the opportunities that exist for your piano students will be completely different than they are today. Because of this, it is so important to ensure that what we are teaching is not only varied, but applicable. There should always be a reason behind why we teach theory, why we expose our students to a wide variety of genres, and why and how we teach composing. The ever-changing world of working musicians demands it!
Alexandra Weiss Toronto Piano Teacher says
Great podcast with Dr. Foley.
Playing duets, accompanying singers and other instrumentalists is great for piano students and building a community within the studio. Competitions which have vocal categories are motivating, especially where a piano teacher can send his/her vocal student and a piano student as an accompanist. It is not often done, but it’s one of the ways to build strong musical connections between students. I am looking forward to 2014-2015 school year competitions which are listed on my home page: http://www.AlexandraWeiss.ca where I’ll be sending my collaborative vocal/piano students to.
It’s fantastic that RCM is revising their Syllabus in 2015, which Dr. Foley promises, includes more Canadian repertoire (and American). It would be great if RCM would expand on Popular Selections too.
I concur with Dr. Foley that it is necessary to have a good technique, ear, sight-reading abilities to be a good collaborative pianist. Unfortunately, Dr. Foley only discusses the possibilities of collaborative pianists in the world of classical music, and does not consider contemporary environment. Most likely, when he mentions pairing pianists with singers last year @ RCM, he means classical music pairing, and not jazz/pop/contemporary… I wonder why RCM is still so classical music – centric? For example, this year, one of my students brought an i-Pad to his Gr. 3 exam and as a Teacher Selection piece (substitute for a study) he played a blues improv with i-Pad backing track from i-Real-Pro app, and the examiner said that she’ll make an exception to allow him to do that; thus, in general, the RCM examiners are not really open to interesting possibilities of piano playing…
P.S. Thanks to Dr. Foley for letting people know about EverNote & Nocs (MarkDown) apps.
Christie says
I just read through this article and (without listening to the podcast) wondered what exactly a collaborative pianist does. Then I clicked on the “amazing list of possibilities” and I realized that I AM a collaborative pianist! My husband is retired military and over the years of moving around I’ve taught lessons, played for every church we’ve been in, and accompanied for solos. This last year brought with it the chance to play for rehearsals and shows for the local community theater. It’s so much fun and a ton of work and something I was terrified to try at first. Opportunities are out there….sometimes we just need to look a little harder and think outside the “performance or solo” box.